The present invention relates to a chest piece for a garment such as a suit jacket or blazer and to a method for constructing such a garment.
In the conventional manufacture of sport coats and the like, the chest piece which is utilized in the construction thereof is generally prefabricated from a one piece chest "canvas" or carrier which has a first connecting edge which is connected to the lapel break line by means of a bridle tape and the second connecting edge in the vicinity of the arm hole which is connected thereto at some later point in the manufacture of the jacket. The chest piece may also comprise, in dependence on the quality of the garment to be made, a shoulder piece at the top portion of the chest carrier and chest felt overlying the chest carrier and shoulder piece and against which the jacket lining is eventually disposed.
While jackets have been made for many years utilizing the one piece chest carrier, a typical problem that results therefrom is the fact that after the garment is constructed and is dry-cleaned several times, the chest carrier tends to shrink at a different rate than the garment outer fabric with the result that in the upper chest area the material has "length", that is, the garment fabric begins to pucker or buckle.
Another disadvantage of the one piece chest carrier is the degree of skill needed by the operator to initially construct the garment without the presence of "length" even when the garment is new. In view of the three dimensional shape that the garment must take on when finally constructed, the slightest inaccuracies in the connecting of the chest carrier along its two connecting edges during the construction of the garment, will result in this puckering.